I think we can safely assume that the Rabid Puppy slate in 2016 is going to consist of five nominees in every category, to try to maximize the number of categories with no non-Puppy nominees. I suspect he's also going to pointedly include nominees that exist to dare the left to vote against them.

Vox is, of course, nothing if not banally and irritatingly predictable, having just released the first chunk of his Rabid Puppies slate for the year, his picks for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. And sure enough, his five picks include not only a writer whose sole publications have been through Castalia House but Andy Weir, author of The Martian, who would have been on the ballot last year were it not for the Puppies, and who I've had penciled in on my balloting spreadsheet since November.

First of all, then, my sincere sympathies to Andy Weir, who I'm sure had absolutely zero desire to be put on the Rabid Puppies slate, who self-evidently doesn't and didn't need Vox Day's help and who really should have been allowed to enjoy his Oscar season in peace and without any of this nonsense. Now an award that he would have been up for anyway (if not ineligible on the basis of having won it last year) is fundamentally tainted. This should serve first and foremost as a reminder that Vox Day is a complete and utter dick, and that the only reason anyone would support him is that they are too.

Second of all, then, my initial thoughts on how to reply to the tactic. For one thing, I'm still going to nominate Weir. He deserves it. Frankly, his breakout success is literally the exact sort of thing the Campbell Award exists to honor. He stormed on the scene and got a Ridley Scott movie for his trouble. I'm going to carry on with my ballot in all other categories, and if Vox turns out to make some of the same picks as me, so be it. I'm perfectly at peace with that.